I took a break from my remaining Christmas tasks (don't expect my Christmas card to arrive on Monday) to see the movie Any Day Now. Rudy performs as a drag queen and doesn't make much money. About the time he attracts the attention of closeted Paul he discovers the young teen Down Syndrome Marco, who lives in the next apartment, has been left behind as his mother is hauled away on drug charges. Marco is placed in foster care, but leaves, looking for home. Rudy and Paul take Marco in, and that begins the battle for custody. Today that would be pretty easy, but the story is set in 1979.
Even though things are now much better for gay parents, I thought the story is still targeted for today's audience. Part of it is to show the gay viewers how far we've come. And part of it is to remind straight viewers that gay parents can be pretty good. Yeah, the choice between a gay couple and a druggie mother lays the choice pretty starkly from our vantage three decades later. But at that time the choice wasn't so obvious.
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